I am guilty, a time or two, of making a comment to my husband about a headline that I saw online. Whether it was from a newsfeed, Twitter feed or seemingly reliable source, I will mention to my husband, “hey, did you hear about, (insert interesting fact about current event here).” The problem is, if he did not hear about it, then he asks me for more information. Embarrassed, I reply, “well, I never actually read the article.” The truth is, I only read the title. If we both truly are genuinely interested we might search online for the full report of the story. Sometimes the title of the original article that caught my eye was spot on, other times it was a complete fabrication of the truth.
Over the summer, I saw a headline that implied that a grandfather was dangling his granddaughter from a balcony on a cruise ship. When you read the article, it stated that he was dangling the 18-month old from the window and he lost his grip. Horrifying. Terrible. Some speculated because it was on a cruise ship, that he was drunk. The whole situation was sad.
Fast-forward a few weeks and other articles came out stating that this story was portrayed as completely inaccurate. The family came out into the open, allowed themselves to be interviewed and shared a completely different story. They shared that the grandfather had set the girl on a window ledge thinking that there was glass behind it. When he turned around, she had fallen. I do not know which story is true. The entire event is heartbreaking. What I do know is, more people believe the first story and think that the family is making up the second story. Although possible, we still need to look at the fact that the first story could have just been completely made up. Click bait. It’s hard to believe that people would put completely fake news out there but we have all seen articles that simply are not true. High profile celebrities did not quit their jobs to go start a beauty line though the headlines might tell us so. You click the title and either you find a completely made up story about someone famous quitting their day job to sell beauty products or you simply read about the beauty product without the celebrity being named at all. We have all seen ads like this. We simply roll our eyes, wish we could gain the last three minutes of our lives back, and move on. Yet what do we do when the scam isn’t so obvious and how do we teach our children to be careful when it comes to what they read online?
Make It Clear Which Sources Can Be Trusted and Which Cannot
Explain to your children that just because it was a headline on Yahoo News or it showed up in your Google News Feed, does not mean that it is true. Most people do not view social media or online news feeds as gossip but that is exactly what it can become. If you do not know the people involved personally, or have talked to them about what has happened, then whatever you are reading can turn into hearsay, gossip. When your child understands that many online news outlets are not reporting the truth but sharing what they think will sell and actually make up content, then your child will be able to read what is online with a grain of salt. They will understand that though there might be some truth hidden in this story about what happened but they will not automatically assume that every last word that they read is true. Of course not all sources are bad, we don’t want to raise our children to be cynical of everyone and everything but, just like people, they need to learn which sources stick to the facts, are truthful and are honest. Follow those whom you trust will accurately report on current events on social media or subscribe to their emails so your child has a place to go when wanting to search out the truth of a current event.
Research, Research, Research!
When it comes to sound, biblical, doctrines, you will notice that there will be more than one cross-reference in the Bible supporting them. Most doctrines do not simply take one Scripture and run with it. There is too much danger of taking it out of context that way. Confirmation after confirmation is found throughout the Bible confirming the doctrines we follow in Christianity. It is the same thing with the news. We need to warn our children that we cannot take one headline that we see and just run with it. Encourage your child to research what they read when it comes to current events and popular news trends. Encourage them to seek out more than one source on the subject and compare notes. Encourage them also to get as close to the source as possible. Have them find quotes from those involved or eye-witnesses nearby.
Just because it was online, does not mean it is true. In the digital age that we live, this is an important truth that our children need to grasp. If we teach this to them at a young age, then we can trust that when they are older they will continue to wisely discern the truth from the lies.
